Watch Paparazzi

Singer Will Pan spotted wearing Audemars Piguet

Taiwanese singer and multi-hyphenate entertainer Will Pan was recently spotted wearing one of Audemars Piguet's most coveted contemporary references — the Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar All Black Ceramic Openworked, reference 26585CE. The sighting underscores a broader trend of Asian celebrity figures gravitating toward technically complex, aesthetically distinctive AP pieces that read as statement watches even to a non-collector audience.

The Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 26585CE is built around the manufacture's Calibre 5134, a self-winding movement beating at 19,800 vph with a 40-hour power reserve. The complication delivers a perpetual calendar — day, date, month, moon phase, and leap year indication — and requires correction only once every 1,461 days, accounting for the four-year cycle. What separates the 26585CE from earlier perpetual calendar Royal Oaks is its fully skeletonized dial architecture: the movement's bridges and plate are exposed and finished to the same exacting Côtes de Genève and beveling standards as the solid-dialed references, but in this case, the visual drama is amplified by the all-black ceramic construction of both the 41mm case and integrated bracelet.

Ceramic, or zirconia in AP's terminology, presents genuine manufacturing challenges at this scale. Achieving tolerances tight enough for a bracelet of this complexity — with the Royal Oak's iconic integrated link architecture — required extensive tooling development. The result is a monochromatic piece that is scratch-resistant, hypoallergenic, and, critically, finite in production terms. AP has not produced this reference in high volumes, which directly explains its extraordinary grey market premium.

Will Pan, known throughout the Mandopop world for his versatile catalog and cultural crossover appeal, has demonstrated consistent taste for significant horology. Wearing the 26585CE positions him squarely within a collector tier that understands the difference between an AP with presence and one with genuine mechanical distinction.

Market dynamics around the Audemars Piguet Royal Oak Perpetual Calendar 26585CE are stark. The official list price sits at approximately $115,800 USD, while current grey market valuations are tracking around $460,000 — a multiple of nearly four times retail. That figure reflects genuine scarcity rather than speculative noise, making this one of the stronger value-retention propositions in the contemporary AP catalogue.